3 more convicted in vast prescription drug scheme

Jul. 10, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff

A podiatrist, psychologist and pharmacist were convicted today in federal court of health care fraud for helping scam the government out of $57 million for unnecessary prescriptions.

Convicted were podiatrist Anmy Tran, 42, of Clinton Township; psychologist Sanyani Edwards, 34, of Southfield; and pharmacist Mitesh Patel, 39, of Troy. According to evidence presented during the three-week trial, the three took part in an elaborate scheme that billed the government millions of dollars for pills that were medically unnecessary or never dispensed.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said the guilty verdicts should put the health care community on notice.

“Law enforcement investigators in metro Detroit are aggressively investigating health care fraud and detecting abuses by doctors and pharmacists,” McQuade said in announcing the verdict. “We hope that prosecutions like this one will deter medical professionals from stealing taxpayer funds intended for health care.”

According to trial evidence, the ringleader of the scheme was Canton pharmacist Babubhai Patel, the owner of more than 20 metro Detroit pharmacies, who paid cash kickbacks to doctors in exchange for them writing prescriptions for expensive pills, regardless of whether they were needed. The prescriptions were then billed to Medicare, Medicaid, or a private insurer through one of the Patel pharmacies, the prosecution argued.

The medications were given to patients and patient recruiters as kickbacks in exchange for the patients using a Patel pharmacy. Sometimes, Patel’s pharmacists would bill for medications that were never given to patients, the government said.

Babubhai Patel, who was convicted at trial last August, is already serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Tran was one of the doctors who received bribes and kickbacks from Patel to write prescriptions, prosecutors argued at trial.

Mitesh Patel was one of Patel’s cooperating pharmacists, who billed for medications he never dispensed to patients.

Edwards, the Southfield psychologist, paid bribes and kickbacks to doctors, nurses and assisted-living facility owners in exchange for referrals of prescriptions to the Patel pharmacies, according to the government. Edwards also worked with a corrupt psychiatrist to write fictitious prescriptions, which could then be billed at a Patel pharmacy.

Tran, Edwards, and Mitesh Patel are three of 26 individuals charged in August 2011. All 26 have now been convicted of felonies arising from their involvement with Babubhai Patel. Of those, 17 pleaded guilty and nine were convicted at trial.

Tran and Edwards were convicted on their three counts each: conspiracy to commit health care fraud, to distribute controlled substances, and to pay or receive health care kickbacks.

Mitesh Patel was convicted on six of seven counts, including health care fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was acquitted of conspiracy to pay or receive health care kickbacks.

Meanwhile, another 13 defendants were charged in a superseding indictment that was unsealed in March. Their trial date is set for January 2014.